BP said March 2 it would pay at least $7.8 billion to
resolve private plaintiffs’ claims for economic loss, property
damage and injuries. The settlement didn’t cover claims by Gulf
Coast states including Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

“The settlement may be preliminarily approved before this
office and other interested stakeholders have a meaningful
opportunity to review and comment on its terms,” Bondi said in
a court filing today. “The court should delay any immediate
decision on the preliminary approval motion.”

Lawyers on the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, who
negotiated the agreement with BP, are scheduled to submit a
proposed agreement April 16 for approval by U.S. District Judge
Carl Barbier in New Orleans. Bondi asked Barbier to set up a
“briefing schedule” to allow time for comment.

The proposed settlement may cut out certain classes of
plaintiffs from recovery, including some Florida residents,
Bondi said.

“It appears that the settlement will apply only to claims
from Florida businesses and residents located in the Panhandle
or along the west coast of Florida,” she said. BP and the Gulf
Coast Claims Facility, set up by the company to pay claims, have
previously “paid claims from almost every county in Florida.”

The blowout and explosion killed 11 workers and caused the
worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The accident prompted
hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its partners.

The case is In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater
Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, MDL-2179,
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New
Orleans).

To contact the reporter on this story:
Margaret Cronin Fisk in Southfield, Michigan,
at mcfisk@bloomberg.net.